Ten Years After the Kitzmiller Case

The Discoveroids have never stopped moaning and groaning about it — especially Casey Luskin, our favorite creationist. He often writes about how Judge Jones got everything wrong — everything! We wrote about his last effort in Casey and Kitzmiller — One More Time.

As Megan Kitzmiller introduces herself to people, a landmark federal court ruling that bears her last name is in the back of her mind. “‘Oh, are people going to wonder about that?'” said Kitzmiller, who’s now a ninth-grade English teacher at Littlestown High School. “But, it’s never anything bad.”

What’s Megan’s connection to the trial? We’re told:

Her mother, Tammy Kitzmiller, was one of 11 plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit that the ACLU of Pennsylvania filed against the Dover Area School District in 2004 over its mention of intelligent design in ninth-grade biology class.

Some of plaintiffs’ children in the case are now grown, and are working in various fields including education and science. The lawsuit is also etched into the lives of the plaintiffs and lawyers in the case.

[…]

Before the lawsuit was filed, most of the plaintiffs did not know one another. Today, almost half have served as a member of the Dover Area School Board at some point. Two are on the ACLU of Pennsylvania’s Board of Directors. And on Dec. 20, the date the decision came down, some wish each another a “Merry Kitzmas.”

We wonder if Casey is reading the article in the York Daily Record. Of course he is. Imagine his anguish! Here’s more:

Both teachers, Bryan Rehm, and his wife, Christy, were two of the other plaintiffs in the lawsuit. Bryan Rehm was one of eight candidates who won seats on the school board as part of the coalition Dover CARES, and he served for close to 10 years. Christy Rehm is on the board, and her term expires in November.

[…]

The two said they still receive some blowback in the community from people who say they’re not the “right kind” of Christians.

BWAHAHAHAHAHA! Moving along:

Eric Rothschild, an attorney at Pepper Hamilton LLP in Philadelphia who also worked on the case, said the bond between the lawyers and plaintiffs has been “incredibly rich” and continues to this day. Reunions were held for the first five years after the trial, and one is in the works for this fall.

There’s much more to this happy story, so click over there and read it. Then, let’s wait for the next grumbling post from Casey. A big part of his job is trying to convince people that the Kitzmiller case doesn’t mean anything. But it does.

Addendum: That newspaper has several other articles about the ten-year anniversary of Kitzmiller. The National Center for Science Education has links to them here: Kitzmiller in the York Daily Record.

Because Kitzmiller v Dover showed ID was nothing more than creationism in a push-up bra, the Discoveroids had to change to their “Academic Freedom” shtick to appeal to the American sense of fair play and PATRIOTISM; And like cheesy products on infomercials, appealing to patriotism – “Made right here in the USA! – is what those companies usually do when the products they’re hawking doesn’t have much going for them to make them better than the competition.

I just made an addendum to the post to mention that the same newspaper has several other articles about the ten-year anniversary of Kitzmiller. The National Center for Science Education has links to them here: Kitzmiller in the York Daily Record.

SC says ” We wonder if Casey is reading…”
Those who adopt dysfunctional positions are adept at avoiding information that runs counter to their positions. I doubt Casey is reading the Kitzmiller coverage. It would be a bit like Richard Dawkins following a creationist newsletter. “Does not compute”

I love this quote from the story on “What Happened to the Pandas and Peoples Books” (emphasis mine):

Leslie Forbes, who teaches classes including 10th grade biology and is in her 14th year teaching at Dover Area High School, said she remembers being given a copy of the book some time before the trial by Bertha Spahr, the former chair of the science department, to see if she could understand it.

“And I tried,” Forbes said. “And it made your brain hurt trying to read and understand this, because it was so twisted and talking in circles.” (She later gave the book back.)